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Salt N Pepa wasn't just one of rap music's breakout female acts -- it was one of the genre's overall pop successes.

If the phrase “Legends of Hip-Hop” strikes you as odd, you’re certainly not alone. Rap music, by and large, remains a fresh, thrilling and subversive part of pop culture — so much so that it’s easy to forget that it’s now a 30-year-old art form. That’s a long enough time for some of its biggest stars to hit middle age (Jay-Z and Dr. Dre among them) and many others to have spent decades out of the limelight. Which brings us to the “Legends of Hip-Hop Tour,” one of the genre’s first large-scale nostalgia tours, hitting Municipal Auditorium on Friday. Since these pioneers are coming to a songwriting town, we’ve included samples of their lyrics: revealing rhymes that speak to each artist’s role in hip-hop history.

Salt N Pepa

Yes, I’m blessed, and I know who I am
I express myself on every jam
I’m not a man, but I’m in command
Hot damn, I got an all-girl band
— “Expression,” 1990

Though frequently (and rightly) cited as hip-hop’s breakthrough female act, Salt N Pepa deserves credit for nothing less than becoming one of its first pop successes. “Push It,” an early crossover hit, might remain their best-known tune, but it was their string of assertive, empowering singles in the ’90s (“Let’s Talk About Sex,” “Whatta Man,” “Shoop”) that cemented their fame. That decade also saw a surge of outspoken female MCs following in their footsteps to chart success: Missy Elliott, Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown among them. Today, artists as broad as quirky rapper Nicki Minaj and Nashville-bred pop star Ke$ha tip their hats to Salt N Pepa’s fun-yet-fierce style.

Kool Moe Dee

Rap is an art
And I’m a Picasso
But of course
Why else would you try so
Hard to paint a picture, and try to get ya
Self in my shoes, but they won’t fit ya
— “How Ya Like Me Now,” 1987

Supremely confident rapper Kool Moe Dee provided hip-hop with one of its first great rivalries when he traded barbs with LL Cool J over a string of songs. The cover of his 1987 album How Ya Like Me Now even featured a red Kangol hat (LL’s fashion trademark) being crushed under the tire of a jeep. His profile sank in the early ’90s, but he’s popped back up prominently on occasion, such as Will Smith’s 1998 hit “Wild Wild West.”

Salt N Pepa play the "Legends of Hip-Hour Tour" at Municipal Auditorium on March 18 (photo: North American Entertainment Group).

If the phrase "Legends of Hip-Hop" strikes you as odd, you're certainly not alone. Rap music, by and large, remains a young folks game, so amid young guns such as Drake and Nicki Minaj, it's easy to forget that it's now a 30-year-old art form.

Which brings us to the "Legends of Hip-Hop Tour," one of the genre's first large-scale nostalgia tours, hitting Municipal Auditorium on Friday, March 18. Headlining this old-school shebang is Salt N Pepa, who are frequently (and rightly) cited as hip-hop's breakthrough female act but also deserve credit as one of its first pop successes.

If the thought of getting down to "Push It" and "Whatta Man" in an arena didn't hook you already, a host of hip-hop pioneers are along for the ride: oddball MC Biz Markie, battle rap legend Kool Moe Dee, beatbox architect Doug E. Fresh and early R&B/rap fusionists Whodini.

If you spent any time circling the roller rink between 1985-1995, this news should get you pumped. Old school hip hop hit-makers Salt N Pepa are bringing their 'Legends of Hip Hop Tour' to Nashville's Municipal Auditorium on March 18.

That's not all: the group behind "Push It" and "Shoop" will be joined by an embarrassment of rhyme riches: Biz Markie, Whodini, Doug E Fresh and Kool Moe Dee.

Tickets are $37.50 and $45.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, December 6 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com, or by calling 800-745-3000.

It’s a stage show so cool, Snoop Dogg, Keri Russell and Sarah Silverman have all jumped at the chance to be part of it. Yet in the eyes of its young audience, those stars play second fiddle to Plex the robot, Brobee the monster, and of course, DJ Lance Rock.

Turning the Yo Gabba Gabba! television show into a big-budget live spectacle is a dream come true for co-creator Christian Jacobs, who spoke to us last week about bubble machines, beatboxing and Bootsy Collins. (Ska-punk geeks may also know Jacobs as "The MC Bat Commander," frontman for kooky California rockers the Aquabats.)

What has it been like to have the opportunity to make Gabba a live show? Do you get to apply your own touring and performing experience?

“Touring for so many years in a van and just thinking, ‘Man, if we had some money, it’d be awesome to fly over the audience, or have bubble machines in the venue and at some point turn them all on.’ You think of things, and (with) the Aquabats show, we really try to make it a show, not just playing songs. I think coming into Yo Gabba Live and working with S2BN, the production company that we’re doing the show with, they’re like, ‘Do what you guys want to do?’ And having that kind of carte blanche to make the raddest kids show, I think, has been the most exciting thing.

"There’s no one really there saying, ‘No.’ They figure out a way to get it done, and it shows in the show -- the pacing, but also the interactivity and having a 40-foot video wall, and bubble machines and confetti. The sky has been the limit, really, and that’s just been awesome to be a part of.”